Knock First
by Kiba Wolf
Summary: A mini-multi-chapter story about Syaoran and Sakura trying to progress their relationship, however that can be hard to do when your travel companions are so social… or in Kurogane's case, so apt to pick poor moments to walk in on someone.
1. Knock First

**A/N:**_ Although this could be considered slightly AU, just in case I let something slip: _Spoilers up to the end of the manga!

_**Knock First**_

Syaoran ambled down the hallway, head in the clouds. With his mind drenched in thoughts of the princess, he didn't notice when he bumped into Kurogane at first.

"Hey, Kid? What's wrong with you?"

"Oh! Sorry Kurogane! I guess I didn't see you there!" Syaoran quickly bowed in apology, still in a little bit of a daze.

"Whatever. Where're you coming from?"

Syaoran shifted nervously on his feet. "No where really, but I am trying to get somewhere." His light hinting would hopefully be enough to get Kurogane to move, but no such luck today.

"You're not trying to wonder off on your own again are you? Ever since we finally settled here you haven't stopped for a moment of rest. The journey's done, Kid. You should be enjoying the peace, not twitching all over the place!"

When did Kurogane get so chatty? Or was it that Syaoran really appeared that fidgety. If it was enough for Kurogane to mention it, then he probably should take it easy. The last thing he needed was his mentor being nosy—not to mention if Kurogane got involved then surely Fai and Mokona wouldn't be far behind.

"I'm sorry," Syaoran remarked solemnly.

"Tch. Just relax a little kid. I'd hate to see you turn out like me." With this the powerful ninja moved along, leaving his young disciple to swallow down the words. Syaoran was the only one who truly knew the extent of Kurogane's past. That's how the Suma native wanted it. Syaoran repeatedly asked him whether or not he would ever tell the others, but the answers were always much the same: "I don't think so."

Shaking his head clear of the thoughts, he continued on.

Few things excited Syaoran anymore. He traveled many worlds, after all, and after his fast-paced life came to a screeching halt, he felt as if nearly every task remained unexplainably mundane. One thing that _could_ get his heart pumping and blood rushing happened to be the one thing he fought most his life for—the princess.

Anxiously he approached her chamber door, knocking gently, afraid he may alert the wrong people to his presence. Like Touya. He shuddered at the thought of what Touya might do if he caught him sneaking around his sister's bedroom.

The door creaking open broke him from his paranoid thoughts as Sakura peeked out from behind the door.

"Princess," he breathed, smiling softly at her.

"I told you! Sakura, just Sakura!" she told him in feigned anger, but she couldn't help breaking out into her own smile in the end. "I'm glad to see you here Syaoran," she mumbled, blushing.

Feeling his heart pounding erratically Syaoran returned the sentiment by pulling her out from behind the door and wrapping her up in a hug.

"S-Syaoran!" she exclaimed, blushing harder.

"I'm glad to see you too, Sakura," he murmured. They stood like that, tightly holding on to each other for some time, before Syaoran spoke up again. "Ah, Princess Sakura, I was wondering if you would like to—?"

Suddenly Fai came crashing down the hallway, speak whistling, with a rather peeved looking Touya chasing him. "Stay out of my room!" The two rushed by and Syaoran and Sakura were left there, hearts pounding and mouths a-gap. A long moment passed before Touya raced back to where they were still standing shell-shocked.

"And Brat, stay away from my sister!" he commanded, dragging Syaoran off by the collar of his shirt.

"Wait!" Sakura called out helplessly, watching as her brother took off after Fai again with Syaoran in tow. "Touya!" she called out angrily. Letting out a small sigh she returned to her room and flopped down on the bed. Touya was so unfair, and what did Syaoran want to ask?

Meanwhile, deeper into the castle…

"I'm going to kill that good for nothing mage once I get my hands on him," Touya muttered darkly, still dragging Syaoran along.

Kurogane perked up as they raced past him. "Kill the mage? I want in on this." He ambled after them, while Syaoran could only think to himself what lousy luck he had.


	2. The Talk

**The Talk**

The next day the birds were chirping merrily, the sun was shining, and Syaoran just knew he would get some time alone with the princess today. It was a good day so far, and it was with high hope that Syaoran made his way to breakfast that morning.

After the incident last night, with Touya running past just as he was about to ask the princess out, he decided he would need to not only be more aggressive, but a bit more clever with his relationship with the princess. He blushed at the thought. A relationship with the princess, so forbidden so… enticing. He had returned late last night, back to Sakura's room, after everyone had fallen asleep, and agreed to a meeting place and time with her for today.

They had also shared a brief, chaste kiss before departing from each other's company once more.

With a red face he stumbled into his seat at the table, just as Kurogane was about to sneak a bread roll.

"Oh, hey Kid," he greeted grumpily, as usual. He looked longingly at the spread before him. House rules said no one ate before everyone else arrived though.

Free food but with some strings attached, what a catch-22.

"Good morning Kurogane," Syaoran greeted, bowing quickly in respect and to hide his still-red face.

Kurogane sat down and they sat in a slightly awkward silence. Usually they were both comfortable with silence, but since they both felt like they had been caught red-handed committing murder it was a bit different. Fortunately Mokona bounded down a short few minutes later with Fai hot on his heels.

Much to Kurogane's disdain Touya had not been able to catch and dismantle the no-good magic user yesterday.

"Greetings Syaoran! Greetings Kuro-puu!" said magic-user greeted joyfully, as usual. "My, my, you both look guilty! Did you share a secret kiss this morning?"

Syaoran looked utterly beyond words at this, and Kurogane merely growled, albeit half-heartedly, "Stop using those stupid names!" Kurogane really wasn't up to the same energy levels he once was. Not because of old age or settling in or anything like that. He was just rather bored, much like Syaoran. Unfortunately he didn't have the same distraction granted to him that Syaoran did.

Finally as Fai settled into his place, teasing Kurogane all the while, the princess made her appearance, sweeping gracefully into the room. She almost made it all the way to her seat without looking at Syaoran. Then she did and promptly tripped over her dress and face-planted mere steps away from the sweet security of her seat.

"P-Princess!" Syaoran shouted anxiously, jumping out of his seat. Mokona bounced over after him while Kurogane and Fai watched. It's not that they didn't care, but they were used to her clumsiness and Syaoran's reaction was so fast that it would have been pointless to stand up to help her.

"I-I'm okay," she mumbled shyly, taking Syaoran's offered hand.

Fai grinned mischievously and said, "Hyuu! Look at the cute couple!"

Syaoran quickly raised up his hands to defend himself, letting go of Sakura in the process, who fell back to the ground with a thud.

Embarrassment from Fai's statement turned back to embarrassment at dropping Sakura. "Princess! I'm sorry!"

He quickly helped her back up and she squeaked, "Thank you. It's nothing, thank you!"

Syaoran held onto her hand and smiled at her. "That's good."

They both stared into each other's eyes, smiling gently at each other, the others forgotten for a moment.

But only for a moment as Touya chose that moment to walk in and loudly clear his throat. Syaoran and Sakura both jumped a mile in the air as their faces turned a bright shade of red. They scrambled to their seats and bowed their heads. Fai smiled, as always, and Kurogane scowled, as always.

Touya looked like he wanted to kill someone though. He sat at the head of the table, and glaring at Syaoran, announced, "Let's start eating."

Kurogane, all drama totally forgotten, quickly stacked a plateful of food. Touya grabbed a roll but hardly ate it; he was too busy glaring at Syaoran, who was too busy looking lovingly at Sakura, who was too busy blushing quietly at her food to acknowledge him.

Fai looked at the scene, mildly amused, rolling a grape between his fingers. Meals could sometimes get awkward like this; it really wasn't anything new. The best way to break it up happened to be with a mutual question.

"So Syaoran, did you sleep well last night?" Fai asked, smiling merrily. That broke Syaoran's trance, and with it Sakura's embarrassment, so they both looked up at him. Touya continued to glare, but some things just couldn't be changed.

"Uh, uh, yes. I did. Thanks," Syaoran answered nervously. Kurogane raised an eyebrow at this, but pretended to ignore it. Fai noticed not only Syaoran's stuttered answer, but Kurogane's odd look as well.

"You know Syaoran, I think you and Kurogane should go out and practice a bit," Fai suggested, beaming. Surprisingly enough, this snapped Touya out of his death glare.

"Yes, the two of you should train today," Touya agreed, an evil smirk replacing his previously angry smirk. "Hate for such strong folk to go soft."

Kurogane flinched towards his sword (he carried it to the dinner table even after several people had tried to explain it was rude), but a quick thought reminded him that the man who had given the comment was the king after all. Sadly he really shouldn't kill the king of this world. Besides he was Sakura's brother and he was against killing the only family the sweet girl had.

* * *

><p>Later, Fai and Kurogane sat in the royal parlor (one of them, anyways) trying to stay cool on the abnormally hot day. Abnormally hot for a desert country meant moving down the hall would be suicide, especially for a certain mage used to sub-zero temperatures.<p>

"Kuro-puu, it's hot," he whined. They both sat on plush chairs, dressed each and only in a pair of shorts. The only ones in the palace still dressed normally were Touya and Yukito, and just looking at them gave normal people heatstroke.

"Wonder where Syaoran-kun and Sakura-chan have wandered off to today?" Fai mused.

Kurogane grunted, "Who knows?"

Just then the door swung open and Syaoran entered dressed only in a pair of shorts himself, sweating just as much as everyone else, but smiling unlike the other two men in the room.

"Kurogane-san are you ready for training?"

Said sword master groaned. "Not today, Kid." He didn't add further explanation and Syaoran didn't ask.

He plopped down on a chair, apparently enjoying the weather. The three sat in silence for a few minutes before the door swung open again. This time Sakura entered, wearing her full dress, but smiling nonetheless—until she saw Syaoran, then her eyes widened in surprise and her face turned red, probably not from the heat.

"Ah, Princess!" he shouted, standing and bowing. "I wasn't expecting you to come here."

"I-it's okay, I was just wondering if you wanted to go out," she explained, blushing harder.

"Uh, of course," he answered. "Just let me go get dressed." He stood up and walked towards the door, but Sakura placed a hand on his bare, sweaty shoulder.

"It's fine," she said. "But I'll need to change." She stepped into the room next door, and a moment later re-appeared wearing a tight tank top and a short skirt.

Fai muttered coyly, "When did Sakura learn of such things?"

The two blushing teens waved to their companions and left. Kurogane and Fai exchanged a glance.

"No," Kurogane grunted before Fai could say anything.

"Aw, but Kuro-ku, they need to know! If we don't explain who will?"

"Her brother can," he answered gruffly. Fai rolled his eyes.

"Silly Kuro-tan," he crowed, leaning closer to the wary ninja. "You know her brother would never help Syaoran-kun like that!"

This, at last, elicited a very, very sight blush from Kurogane, but he only answered, "It's not like I owe the kid anything."

"Aw, come on, Kuro-chu!" Fai reasoned, grinning, ahem, evilly. "How would you like it if no one told you the facts of life. Then you'd never be able to help Tomoyo-chan bear a young heir!"

"Sh-shut up!" the no-longer-melancholic ninja stuttered, full on blushing now.

Fai laughed merrily. "So it's agreed then! You'll talk to Syaoran-kun tonight, and I will speak with Sakura-chan!"

"Bastard," Kurogane muttered, slumping in his seat.


	3. The NotSoSecret Secret Garden

**The Not-So-Secret Secret Garden**

After Syaoran and Sakura left, Fai set his plan into motion, with Kurogane grudgingly following along and Mokona overjoyed to be a part of the fun.

"This will be precious, and who knows?" Fair exclaimed, dancing around. "Maybe this will help them take their relationship to the next level!"

Mokona giggled and nodded in agreement, hopping on top of Kurogane's head. "Yeah Kuro-pi, won't it be super romantic?"

"Get off me, damn it!" the enraged swordsman howled, swinging a fist towards the blasted creature. Sadly, Mokona knew all of his moves this late in the game. After easily dodging his fist a chase broke out, leaving Fai to comment further.

"Mokona's right, Kuro-kai!" he exclaimed, dusting off a spot on the table and adding flowers in a vase to soften up the area. "This could be very helpful to them, and don't you want to help our young friends?"

Kurogane paused, exhausted at all the yelling he'd done. "Why should I care?"

"Because we might have little Syaorans and Sakuras running around soon after this!" the magician exclaimed happily, just as Touya happened by the room.

"Do we really need—?" Kurogane started to ask, but was cut short as aforementioned big brother burst into the room.

"Did I hear something about little Syaorans?" he growled, fire in his eyes.

"Yup!" Fair answered happily and totally unaware of the rage in the younger man's eyes. "Little Syaorans!"

"Okay, I'm in," Touya answered, without really receiving an invitation.

"You'll help too Mister King?" Mokona asked, grinning like a fool.

"Of course!" said king exclaimed. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Great!" Fai proclaimed, moving towards the door. "Let's not wait then, let's go find the children right away!"

"Agreed," Touya replied stoically.

"Yeah!" Mokona cheered, bounding after them.

Kurogane was left to stand in the room, staring dumbly at the door the group had just exited through for a long minute. "Is everyone here on f-_Mokona_ drugs?" he screamed.

Meanwhile, the children spent time together, blatantly ignorant of the hunting party now tracking them down. After a long day of shopping the teens had returned to the palace grounds, but Sakura wanted to show Syaoran some of the new flowers blooming in the garden before they returned inside.

"Princess, I'm sure I've seen all the flowers out here," he remarked, smiling and following her regardless.

"Nope!" she chirped. "I know you haven't seen these. They just started blooming yesterday, but not many people see them anyways."

"Why's that?" Syaoran asked, bemused. Really, how could he think of any kind of flower when he had his perfect Sakura grasped in his hand right now?

"Look!" she exclaimed in way of an answer, pointing towards a large tree. "They bloom under here!" She pulled Syaoran under the tree, and when he looked around he understood why not many people would see flowers under here. The branches of the tree grew out and sagged down, causing a natural curtain around the tree's base.

With a skip of his heart, Syaoran realized that no one would be able to see them under here. Total. Privacy.

He _had _to make this count.

"This is really cool, Princess," he remarked, observing the odd tree as well as the flowers that now absorbed her attention.

"They're my favorite," she whispered, adding a bit of a sacred feeling to the cool place away from the rest of the world. "Do you want to know why?"

Syaoran crouched down beside her, carefully touching the petals of the flowers. It was a rustic, no doubt robust, flower. The most striking feature of the plant was its amber coloring towards the center, while the rest of the petal stretched out in a delicate white arc. "Why's that?"

"They remind me of you," she whispered so quietly that at first Syaoran had thought he heard wrong. He looked up to meet her eyes, face partially hidden by a bundle of the flowers she was holding.

"Sakura.." he whispered, taken aback by her bold statement. She blushed even more upon hearing her name, which only caused Syaoran's soft smile to grow. He leaned forward, cupping her face in his hand. His heartbeat picked up in rhythm as he leaned towards her, his princess, his Sakura.

"You'll always be my favorite flower," he whispered, as their lips brushed. Just as he was about to seal the deal a loud rumbling could be heard, rapidly approaching.

"What's that?" Sakura exclaimed as Syaoran jumped up to protect her, the moment unfortunately forgotten.

"It's okay," he reassured. "I'll protect you."

"I know you're out here you brat!" came the enraged yell of none other than Touya, King of Clow. Syaoran nearly fell over upon hearing this, but turned instead to gesture to the princess to sit down and keep quiet. Maybe the mob would pass them by.

Of course, they don't have that kind of luck. A moment later Touya tore through the foliage cover, steam blowing out of his nose like an angry bull, foaming at the mouth. Syaoran jumped up, prepared to run, but as he took off he ran headlong into (for the second time that week) Kurogane.

"Ah, Kurogane-san!" he exclaimed, backpedaling, which he realized almost right away was a bad idea as Touya was ready to pounce on him if he backed up too much.

"Come on," the stern teacher grunted. "We're going to go have a talk." Without further warning Kurogane dragged the young, confused boy off to another area, while Sakura was left to wonder why her dearest Syaoran continuously had to be pulled away from her—literally.


	4. Footloose

**Footloose **

"Kurogane-san, um, where are we going?" Syaoran asked uncertainly, following his mentor down the long corridors of the palace.

"Look, Kid," the swordsman grumbled, "they told me if I do this then I get to eat whenever I want. It's worth it."

Syaoran continued to look bewildered, as that explanation really had no meaning for one not involved with Fai's most recent plotting. Nonetheless, Syaoran trusted that if Kurogane had wanted to kill him, then he would've done it a long, long time ago.

Finally, after a strenuous amount of time, Kurogane halted outside of a door. He seemed to be looking for something specifically on the door, but after a long, long moment he merely grunted and threw the door wide open, dragging Syaoran along with him, of course.

"Okay sit down and shut up!" he barked, tossing Syaoran, who had in fact not been talking, onto a chair. "Let's just get this over with so I can have dinner!"

"Um, okay Kurogane-san," Syaoran agreed readily enough. "What was it you wanted to do exactly?"

"You like the princess, right?" Kurogane asked, which seemed, to Syaoran, to have nothing to do with anything.

"Yes, Sir," he answered firmly, disregarding the general strangeness of the question.

"Okay, ugh," Kurogane started muttering to himself. "How the _hell_ am I supposed to phrase this?"

"Uh, Kurogane-san?" Syaoran asked worriedly.

"Okay, look Kid, do you want her to have your children?" Kurogane finally spat out, causing both of the men to blush at the sudden exclamation.

Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the castle…

"So Sakura-chan, how are things with Syaoran-kun?" Fai asked, smiling brilliantly, completely ignoring the audience behind him. Sadly, Sakura did not have the mage's disposition.

"Uhm, it's hard to answer that with so many people here," she mumbled, covering her face as best as she could while Mokona and Touya gawked at her.

"Yeah, what about that brat?" Touya snipped.

"I bet Syaoran would make a good princely consort," Mokona giggled. Fai looked back at the group commenting behind him. Sakura might have a point. Maybe.

"Okay!" the magician exclaimed. "Everyone out!" He started pushing everyone else out of the room, catching Sakura as she tried to sneak out. After he forced Touya and Mokona out, he sat back down, allowing Sakura to reclaim her seat first.

"Now then, what about Syaoran-kun?" he asked, pulling a cup of tea out of seemingly thin air—which was actually a possibility for him, in retrospect.

"I-I-I," Sakura stuttered, nervously twisting the hem of her dress. "H-he's very sweet."

"Oh is that so-o?" Fai asked, leaning forward with a mischievous smirk. "Now just between us girls…"

"Uhm, Fai-san, you're not a—," Sakura started to correct, but he interrupted her.

"Now don't make me play hardball, Sakura-chan!" he squealed in delight. "Tell me how super-yummy Syaoran-kun is!"

"How… what?" she asked, totally baffled.

"Okay, okay," Fai said, waving his hands in front of him. "You dragged it out of me. I know all about you and Syaoran-kun!"

Sakura's face lit up, her stuttering increased tenfold. "Sy-Syaoran and I are just friends!"

"No need to hide it anymore, Sakura-chan," Fai whispered. "I'm here to answer all of your questions!"

"My questions?"

"About Syaoran-kun!"

"You can tell me anything about Syaoran?" she asked, suddenly interested.

"All you need to know, Sakura-chan," he answered. "All you need to know."

Back with Kurogane and Syaoran…

"So you see, you should always use protection, because you don't want anything weird happening down there," Kurogane was explaining, sock puppets on hand. Syaoran had gone numb a while ago, and now he could only stare open-mouthed at Kurogane.

Continuing, Kurogane said, "And remember, you don't want to just go at it in broad daylight! Just because it's natural doesn't mean you can and do it on the throne!"

"Throne?" Syaoran squeaked.

"Yeah, I mean it would be cool to do once, but you know what they say: men don't want other men's sauce on their sh-_Mokona_."

Syaoran went back to looking dumbfounded.

"Don't get me wrong, trying new things is good," Kurogane explained. "But if you keep f-_Mokona_-ing in the King's room, then he's going to get seriously pissed. Are you getting what I'm saying? Explore, be creative, just know when enough is enough."

"Yes… Kurogane-san," Syaoran replied, still unable to quite keep his jaw snapped shut.

Meanwhile, Sakura was finally opening up to Fai.

"And he was going to kiss me, but then—actually—every time something's going to happen someone shows up," she explained, tears in her eyes. "I don't think we'll ever get a moment alone."

"Poor Sakura-chan," Fai sniffled. "Poor Syaoran-kun. That's it! Let's go find them right now! Daddy should be done talking!" Without waiting for a response Fai leapt up, grabbed Sakura, and took off towards the room he had designated "Daddy and Son's."

A minute later—for Fai ran fast when required—they burst in on Kurogane and Syaoran at a rather prime moment. Kurogane had pulled out his sword and was now pelvic-thrusting with it towards Syaoran.

"Oh my, Kuro-chi," Fai giggled, hand covering his face. "I didn't know Kuro-daddy swung that way."

"Sh-shut up!" Kurogane howled, quickly putting away his sword. "I thought you weren't supposed to come until I gave the all-clear!"

"Well Sakura informed me that she and Syaoran continuously get interrupted, and _that's_ why there aren't any mini-Syaorans and Sakuras running around yet!" Fai explained in one long breath, dropping off Sakura and grabbing Kurogane in the process.

"Is that true, Kid?" the angry ninja demanded, turning back on his pupil.

"Well, yes, I tried to tell you, but you seemed rather determined," Syaoran explained in embarrassment. "My father told me all about that stuff a long time ago."

Kurogane passed out.

"Well, Daddy needs his nap!" Fair proclaimed merrily. "Come Mokona, let's give our love birds some time alone!" Mokona bounded up onto Fai's shoulder, smirking all the while.

"Good luck you two," they both cheered, slamming the door behind them. Sakura and Syaoran glanced at each other once before collapsing on their own chairs. For a while they couldn't even think to be embarrassed by all that had happened. Then it dawned on both of them at once.

"So, uh, what did Fai talk to you about?" Syaoran asked nervously.

"Well, uhm, you," Sakura answered, blushing deeply and looking away from him. Syaoran smiled a bit, standing up and walking over to her. He placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up at him.

"Syao—?" she started to ask, looking up at him, but was cut off as the young man rushed forward and pressed his lips against hers.

Breaking away, he smiled again at her. "I love you Sakura."

Blushing worse than ever she replied in-kind, "I love you, too, Syaoran!"

He reached down and pulled her off her seat, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug. "And I'll never let you go," he vowed.

Suddenly the door was blown off its hinges. They both spun around in shock to see Touya panting and looking rather… angry.

"Bastard!" he howled, lunging for Syaoran, who immediately pushed Sakura away and dodged her enraged older brother. "How dare you touch my sister!" he howled, lunging for Syaoran again, but this time Syaoran was cornered. He braced himself for the impact—but it never came.

He opened his eyes to see Kurogane standing over an unconscious Touya with Fai and Mokona peeking out from behind him.

"You hit him super hard, Kuro-rin!" Mokona declared.

"Quite a mean left hook, Kuro-tan!" Fai agreed cheerfully.

"Kurogane? Fai? Mokona?" Syaoran asked, confused. "What are you doing here?"

"Giving you peace of mind," Kurogane grunted, dragging Touya out of the room with Fai and Mokona close behind. The door slammed shut behind them and Syaoran and Sakura turned to look at each other silently for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"They're crazy," Syaoran chuckled.

"But they're good friends," Sakura conceded, giggling.

Syaoran made his way across the room and took his princess's hand. "Now then, where were we?"

Sakura smiled up at him and took his proffered hand, resting against his chest and wrapping her arms around his neck. "Somewhere between kissing and an heir," she answered, an unexpectedly gentle smile on her lips. Syaoran blushed a bit at that. Were they all actually serious about that?

He shook the thoughts from his mind though, responding instead, "Yes, Princess," as he closed the gap between their lips once more.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**_ And that's all folks! Yes, the word 'Mokona' was used as a censor in this chapter and the last. I'm planning on two big Sakura x Syaoran stories in the future, one for _TRC _and one for _Cardcaptor Sakura. _Until then, write on!_


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